This is an open call for submissions for an edited volume on the ways in
which death is displayed in museums through photography. The editors
seek submissions that investigate theoretically and/or through specific
international case studies the complexities of displaying photographs of
death in a museum context. Submissions are expected to contribute to our
understanding of the changing role of photography in museums and of the
museum’s ethical, pedagogical and political responsibilities for
addressing diverse audiences with the display of death through
photography.

More specifically, contributors might consider, but are not confined to,
the following themes relevant to the display of death in museums through
photography:

– Making visible the effects of violence, war or brutality on the human
body
– The display of death through absence(s)
– War, Memorial, or Holocaust museums and photographs of death as
documents/ evidence
– Artistic photography and the display of death in museums
– Documentary photography, death and art
– Vernacular (or other) photography in the museum
– The ethnographic versus the artistic display of death through
photography
– Institutional versus artistic intentionality
– Individual, collective historical narratives constructed, sustained or
challenged
– The aestheticization of violence/death in the art museum through
photography
– The political potential of museums that display photographs of death
– Visitor responses to the display of death and the question of empathy
– The issue of museums’ ethical responsibility
– The affective impact of photographs representing death in museum
displays and meaning-making processes